July 2014

VAN Receives Grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation

The Visual Artists Network (VAN) has been awarded $150,000 from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, to continue its work over the next two years. The grant will support VAN Exhibition Residencies, the publication of the VAN Catalog, group exhibitions at NPN/VAN Annual Meetings and subsidized travel for artists and VAN Partners to NPN/VAN Annual and Mid-Year Meetings. Our thanks!

A Note from New NPN Chair

Please join us in thanking the four NPN/VAN board members whose terms ended on June 30, 2014: Maria-Rosario Jackson, James Kass, Tom Reese, and Maurice Turner. And we welcome Abe Rybeck of The Theater Offensive in Boston as new chair. Read Abe’s reflection upon stepping up into his new role.

What is Cultural Policy…and what does it mean to NPN?

NPN begins a new ongoing series on cultural policy with an overview by NPN President and CEO MK Wegmann. The quarterly feature will focus on specific cultural policy issues, in tandem with strategic partnerships, that affect artists, cultural organizations and the arts field in general.

New Services Available to the Field

For the last six years, EmcArts has successfully designed and facilitated programs that support cultural organizations in tackling their most complex and pressing challenges. They are now offering five different programs:

a retreat on Adaptive Thinking

a workshop series of the Roots of Innovation

on-site coaching for Preparing to Innovate

Incubating Innovation

and Adaptive Planning

If you are interested in taking advantage of any of these new offerings, please contact Richard Evans (revans@emcarts.org) before July 31st.

The National Performance Network, including the Visual Artists Network (NPN/VAN), is a group of diverse cultural organizers and artists, working to create meaningful partnerships and to provide leadership that enables the practice and public experience of the arts in the United States.

Patterned after NPN's model performing arts program, the Visual Artists Network was launched in 2007 as a pilot, and in 2009 the program was formally established through the induction of the VAN Partners, fifteen leading contemporary arts organizations from across the United States.

The boundaries between the performing and visual arts are more than blurred: "Performance art" on the stage and "installations" in a gallery. Using the residency model of a touring performing artist, VAN is a way for the visual artist to engage in community.

Patterned after NPN's model performing arts program, the Visual Artists Network was launched in 2007 as a pilot, and in 2009 the program was formally established through the induction of the VAN Partners, fifteen leading contemporary arts organizations from across the United States.

The boundaries between the performing and visual arts are more than blurred: "Performance art" on the stage and "installations" in a gallery. Using the residency model of a touring performing artist, VAN is a way for the visual artist to engage in community.